Are your employees engaged?

Sunday

Dec 8, 2013 at 6:00 AM

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy laid out his vision for sending a man to the moon by the end of the decade and returning him safely home.

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy laid out his vision for sending a man to the moon by the end of the decade and returning him safely home. I’m pretty sure that JFK had no idea exactly how to accomplish this lofty goal (pun intended).He was no scientist, and I doubt he had a grasp on jet propulsion and the laws of physics. But he set that goal for our nation, trusting that NASA scientists would find a way to make it happen.A legendary story spawned a few years later when a NASA employee entered a restroom at the Kennedy Space Center where he saw three janitors cleaning. He nodded at the men and then asked the man closest to him:“How’s it going?”The janitor shrugged his shoulders in reply. “I clean toilets. How do you think it’s going?”Embarrassed by the response, the employee automatically asked the same question to the next janitor.“How’s it going?”This janitor looked up with a smile. “Oh I can’t complain. I’m feeding my family, you know.” he said in a good-natured way.As the employee started to leave, he passed the third janitor who was smiling and humming while he scrubbed the floor. “Hi, the employee said. “Why are you so happy?”“Well,” the third janitor replied with a grin, “because I’m sending men to the moon!”What is the message that you glean from these three different responses? I’d say that the third man really got it. He was engaged in his job. He saw the vision of the organization and he knew how he was contributing to its achievement. I wonder ... How would your people respond? What are your employee engagement levels like? Your role as a leader, front line supervisor or manager is more about getting and keeping your people engaged than it is about the technical side of business, isn’t it? Unless you can get the job done all by yourself, employee engagement is Job 1. Leadership is about having a vision, communicating that vision to everyone in the organization from the boardroom to the mailroom (and even to the custodial staff), and then aligning actions and executing. No doubt, a whole lot easier said than done.Too often, I see team members who are unclear about what the top goals of their organization are. And that’s because ... follow me closely here ... no one has ever communicated these goals to them! Everyone is running around in different directions like Mardi Gras parade-goers when a handful of doubloons has just been tossed out into the crowd. No one is on the same page, and therefore, no momentum toward goals can be gained. It’s one thing for senior-level leaders to come up with goals and strategies, but it’s another thing entirely to get them done.Typically very few team members can identify top goals and priorities of their organization. Sometimes it’s because the goals are not even communicated to them or perhaps there are too many goals. But most commonly, it’s because the goals change constantly. I’m reminded of something my mama used to say, “By the time I figure out the answers, they’ve changed the questions!”Another inhibitor to employee engagement is that even if employees know the goals of the organization, they have not bought into them. The rank-and-file employees typically have no involvement, no enthusiasm, and thus, no ownership of those goals.And then, although employees know the goals and have actually bought into them, they don’t see a clear connection to how they can help the organization achieve its goals. Employee engagement and creating a collaborative, teamwork-focused work environment are certainly not easy. So as a leader, manager or supervisor, what can you do?Well, you’re in luck because I have come up with my very own Four Step Program for Improving Employee Engagement. Pay attention, because it can get a bit complicated and does require some rather intricate footwork to maneuver through the steps. Warning: Use at your own risk. Some side effects that you may experience include a nose bleed from the G-force and sheer acceleration that you and your team may experience. Step No. 1: Communicate your organization’s and team’s goal to the front-line team members. Communicate early and communicate often. Step No. 2: Ask for input and ideas from team members as to how the goals might be accomplished. Get suggestions from the front line, who, by the way, produces the bottom line. In this way, they will actually feel some ownership in the accomplishment of the goals.Step No. 3: Help team members to see how their job/work contributes to the overall goals of the organization. (See story about three janitors above.)Step No. 4: Lather, rinse, repeat.I know, I know, it’s complicated, but I’m confident you can do it. After all, it’s not rocket science!

Jennifer Ledet can be reached at www.LedetManagement.com.

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